Olau Line

Originally based in Denmark, the company passed under the ownership of the German TT-Line in 1980.Originally the company concentrated in chartering tankers and cargo ships to other shipping companies, but in 1974 Olau Line started a car/passenger ferry services from Sheerness in the United Kingdom to Vlissingen in the Netherlands and from Copenhagen (Denmark) to Aalborg (Denmark).By the end of the 1970s the company was in heavy debt, and in 1979 Ole Lauritzen was forced to sell 50% of Olau Line to the West Germany-based TT-Line.In 1986 and 1987 the company had taken delivery of two cruise ferries for their route between Germany and Sweden, and it was decided that two additional sisters of the same type would be built for Olau Line.[2][3][4] At the time P&O Ferries were looking for new tonnage for their Portsmouth to Le Havre route and had identified the two Olau ships as suitable, while TT-Line (which had also been having financial issues) did not want the distraction of continuing labour issues at its UK subsidiary.
SheernessUnited KingdomNetherlandsParentTT-Lineshipping companyGermanDanishVlissingenCopenhagenAalborgRederi AB SliteFinnlinesDunkirkFranceWest GermanycruiseferriesMS Olau HollandiaMS Olau BritanniaLuxembourgBahamianP&O FerriesPortsmouthLe HavreMS Olau Hollandia (1980)MS Olau Britannia (1982)MS Olau Hollandia (1989)MS Olau Britannia (1990)Wayback Machine